As a leader in a business, you’ll be faced with decisions every day. Whether they’re small decisions that don’t make much of an impact or larger scales decisions that could change things massively for the company and those working for it. It can be daunting and the sense of responsibility on you often gets overwhelming. There’s no clear set way to make a great decision, it all depends on the situation, those involved and the implications of each possible outcome. We have developed a quick list of things that we suggest taking on board when it comes to making yourRead More

Being self-employed can often mean the line between business and personal finance gets blurred. It’s hard to create a divide and have a firm barrier between them both. Our expert team have come together to deliver you our most useful tips for managing your finances. Create a Budget When you’re self-employed it means you’ve not got a guaranteed income that you can rely on being around the same amount each month. This can make budgeting trickier. Creating a budget for expenses allows you to have a clear idea of where your money is going and where you could save someRead More

In April 2018 all UK companies who employed 250 or more employees had to publish statistics revealing their gender pay gap. This movement saw a flurry of headlines highlighting companies with large pay gaps and what they should do to narrow them. Initially, more than ¾ of businesses were paying their male members of staff more than female employees. Some of the worst perpetrators had a gender pay gap of over 80%. Some of the biggest companies in the UK showed that their gap was over 3 times higher than the national average. At the time this was 18.4% forRead More

Research indicates that those from the millennial generation aren’t as financially literate as those from previous generations. They are however more likely to use the latest financial technology. The millennial generation is perhaps most famous for being technological. By 2025, the workforce will be made up primarily (75%) of millennials. The issue is that the millennial generation is showing signs of struggling to understand the most basic financial language. Could it be the job of accountants to aid them in understanding finances and in turn manage them more effectively. “Only 8% of millennials demonstrate high financial literacy” Lack of understandingRead More

When you’re self-employed it can be a minefield trying to work your finances out. With so much advice, legislation and rules to follow it can be over-whelming. As a team that works with self-employed workers regularly we’ve gained lots of knowledge and have written an article on it for you. in simple terms, no technical jargon and genuinely useful tips that will help you get your finances in order for you and your business. Carry on reading to find out what we say! Register with HMRC as self-employed As a sole trader it’s your responsibility to pay your own incomeRead More

When you look at the overall picture of all of your business activity, invoices may seem like a tiny fraction of what goes on. However, collecting payments for work you’ve carried out should never be side-lined. HMRC are looking for clear and accurate records of money you’re expecting to receive throughout the year. As well as HMRC, clients need your invoices to be correct in order to pay them. For limited companies there are certain things that need to be included within your invoices. Are you including them? Back to basics Let’s start by stating the obvious. The word ‘invoice’Read More

These days it’s common to work from home at least some of the week. With busy schedules and a lot of places saying goodbye to the standard 9-5, there’s no wonder really. As well as this, lots of companies give their employees the opportunity to work remotely and are much more flexible with location arrangements. However, this leads to a lot of our clients wondering whether there’s any tax relief for those than work from home to cover the costs of doing so. It can be hard to get your head around the ins and outs of what you canRead More

Christmas is all about happiness, joy and often giving to those you appreciate. For employers it can be difficult to decide how generous you really can afford to be over the festive period. There has been research conducted surrounding the ways in which employers make use of the opportunity of Christmas. Research has also been looking into the impact that the tax system has on acts of generosity over Christmas. Generosity, how far should you go? When employers were asked whether they took into consideration the cost if income tax and NICs when crafting Christmas reward schemes, only a tinyRead More

Christmas. Full of festive cheer, food and celebrations. It’s an exciting time of year and one to be spend with our loved ones. A happy series of events at the time with a stressful aftershock for most of us. Christmas spending is an issue for a huge proportion of us. We’ve put together some of our best advice for recovering from the annual Christmas spending hangover. 7.9 million of British people fall behind with their finances in January due to the effects of Christmas spending. If you remember wondering just how you spend THAT much last year, this year youRead More

As a growing business, one of the many steps you’ll take is employing new staff. Doing this for this first time can seem daunting and having a little guidance will go a long way. Here we give you our best tips on how to ensure you’re recruiting right. Decide a wage Take a look at your accounts and work out how much you can realistically afford to pay a member of staff. Ensure it’s not going to leave you struggling or scraping the barrel at the end of the month. If your budget for a wage is smaller, it mightRead More